First timer refinishing a challenging painted old floor (work in progress with pics)

[natmayhew]

Hey folks, I wanted to share my project and welcome any comments or advice/critique on what I'm doing here. The house I'm working on is an old foursquare (1920) that sits in Southwest Virginia. This house has what I believe to be yellow pine laid as sub-flooring. Aside from the kitchen and baths, all of the floors in the rooms have been painted and most of the rooms have a mysterious unpainted section in the middle. I'm thinking they painted around a rug or bed or something but am unsure. Right after I moved in I had a flooring pro take a look and his advice was to carpet or laminate. He said I would never get the all the paint out, that it probably has seeped too deep and would be too much work if not impossible. So I worked on other projects like the walls, windows, electrical, etc and saved the flooring for last.

I had almost ordered carpet for the whole house and the day I went to take measurements for the order I got a wild hare and broke out some tools to gauge just how deep the paint actually was. I sanded a small section of a bedroom with just a palm sander w/60 grit and that was enough to let me know that there was good wood underneath that old paint and off I went to the rental shop for a drum sander. So I watched a few youtube videos, crossed my fingers and tried my best not to screw up my floors. I was pretty surprised at the results. I didn't rent an edger but instead used a 3x21 belt sander. This was an experiment and I really didn't expect to get acceptable results so spending as little money as possible and working with the tools I have plus the rental sander for a weekend was all I allowed myself. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. As you can see, the sander left some marks on the floor which is more noticeable in the patina. Had I more experience and knowledge I would have sanded across the grain with 20 grit instead of going with the grain. Also I only had the sander for a weekend. The drum sander wasn't enough to get up all the paint without taking the wood down past the patina which was the real challenge of this project. After returning the sander I realized there was still much detail work to do to remove the paint from the grain and all of the imperfections. Now I have most of the paint out of the grain after some spot sanding and I'm pretty satisfied with the results. I would like to smooth out the floor again but really hate to rent that drum sander again, I'm wondering if I can smooth over the floor with just my belt sander without doing more damage? Or just finish and call it a day? Anyhow there is more work to be done but I'm just not sure of where to take this from here. Anyhow here are the pics...
BEFORE:

AFTER: (after drum sanding, edging with belt sander and detailing)

 

[highup]

The floor is a bit 'mottled' or blotchy, but it seems that effect is relatively balanced out throughout the floor. If you can do a little more sanding to remove the sanding scratches, would a more rustic, or distressed look work for you? If so, it might be a go. You'd want a rug in the room anyhow.

 

[highup]

They make sharp scrapers with interchangable edges that can get into rounded contours and deep grooves. Maybe one of those would help get the paint out of the deeper areas the sander can't reach. Do all that, then maybe a little wood filler and resand. Rustic can be made to look good, but you may still be in for a lot more work.

 

[natmayhew]

I'm debating sanding again but a distressed look is fine by me too, the floor is indeed distressed both from 100yrs of wear/tear and from the sander. To my knowledge there hasn't been any carpet or flooring over this subfloor ever, just paint. The boards were a good 3/4'' thick before I sanded and I really didn't take off much other than the paint and a little off the top. There was plenty of paint in the grains and I got most of it out already with one of those wire wheel brushes that attach to the drill. I've touched up with homemade sawdust woodputty here and there. I wouldn't be opposed to using regular stainable woodputty if I can get a good color with my dyes. Any tips on dying woodputty to match would be appreciated. I have a set of TransTints but not much experience with them. I could start on another room and justify renting the sander again but I want to keep as much of the patina as possible. In other words, I'm fine with the way it looks now except for the sanding bloches and I'm not exactly sure the floor is even flat enough to sand without leaving traces behind. As for finish, I'm thinking oil based but am open to suggestions there too. The room will have rugs and is being used as a recording studio space during my stay so it will have some heavy stuff like an organ, piano, amps, etc being wheeled around. I'll eventually sell this house God willing so touching up sounds better than refinishing an abused poly coat. Also a good amount of the spaces were previously filled with some sort of white calk or woodputty. Not sure what to do about that either. I didn't even realize it until I lifted the paint but whatever's in there seems to have held the spaces well for many years...maybe dig out a bit and topcoat with matching filler?

 

[rugaddict]

ok kids time for a history lesson---around here 1920,s is considered new construction---the unfinished area in the center of the floor is probably from an oil cloth---it was a linoleum on top of tar paper that was used as an area rug---usually a floral print---the height of fashion back in the day---the paint was to cover up that hardwood which was they considered plywood --- i know you dont want to hear this but if was painted more than fifty years ago the paint probably contained lead---a little late i know----whatever you do dont sand it lol----looks great by the way

 

[natmayhew]

I did sand it but wore a lead paint respirator and cleaned it up good. Always wondered about the middle sections. It's prevalent in every room.

 

[Incognito]

Agree with rugaddict on both counts; oilcloth/lino rugs and lead paint

as far as taking out the "dork marks" from your sanding it's just hard to say from the photos where the "distressed" charm ends and any improvements might begin

you done great for an amateur and I think the best part is you haven't tore deep into it so if a future buyer wanted to hire professionals that potential is still there

as this is not going to be YOUR home for the long run I'd advice you that LESS IS MORE

in other words go light with any more scraping, sanding, gouging out filler, putty and finally whatever finish you may choose

maybe you could get a local hardwood refinisher out there at this point for some quotes

I'm not saying waste his time if you have NO intention of hiring him. But since your goal is an eventual sale of this property I'm virtually CERTAIN that an investment now or later in this aspect of the home is typically one of the most cost efficient ways to sell a house. Dollar for dollar you're going to get every penny back and on top of that someone walks in, falls in love with the look and writes you the check at your asking price saving you weeks or months of marketing and waiting to move on with your life.

That's the name of that tune.

 

[AndyK]

What is the status of the project now? Have you decided what the next step is and do you have more photos?

 

[davidlee]

Resurfacing helps to avoid various damage. Different methods are used for this purpose such as diamond grinding, acid etching etc. Usually concrete surface preparation is required when there is damage due to oil grease, spalling, etc. You might have heard about usage of concrete surface preparation. It will help you to restore the damaged floor again.